The Padres have designated righty Aaron Northcraft for assignment, Dennis Lin of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports on Twitter. His 40-man spot was needed with the finalization of the James Shields signing.
Northcraft was acquired by San Diego in the recent deal that also delivered Justin Upton from the Braves. The 24-year-old has yet to see MLB action, and indeed reached the highest level of the minors for the first time last year. He scuffled to a 6.54 ERA in 64 2/3 innings at Triple-A Gwinnett after posting a solid first half of 2014 at Double-A, where he struck out 8.5 and walked 3.3 per nine en route to a 2.88 ERA in 65 2/3 frames.
